Writing her way back to herself after cancer
Right before my 65th birthday, my life came to a halt when I was diagnosed with cancer. Numerous doctors' appointments, tests and treatments made my life a blur as multiple myeloma took charge of my days.
Days before my 65th birthday, my life came to a halt when I was diagnosed with cancer. Numerous doctors' appointments, tests and treatments made my life a blur as multiple myeloma took charge of my days.
Eighteen months later, following two rounds of radiation, six months of chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant, I entered remission and was temporarily spit out of the cancer treatment machine.
Bald, confined to a wheelchair, unable to eat or drink, on strong pain medication, and determined to regain my sense of well-being, I spotted a sign at Penn's Abramson Cancer Center that advertised a Writing for Life group for cancer patients.
I signed up as soon as I could.
Fifteen of us gathered on the hard wooden chairs of Kelly Writers House on the Penn campus: people who had cancer and had shared my experience. Here I found understanding and camaraderie. The ground rules were simple. There was no right or wrong way to comment or write. We would take turns and listen.
We were given poems written by a cancer survivor; I was surprised by how much his experience echoed mine. The group took turns reading the poems aloud and then we each went to our own corners to write. Thank goodness I found a soft chair to snuggle into. The more I wrote, the more I wrote. Feelings and memories arose, fears and hopes that I had tucked into the back of my mind.
Now that I did not feel so alone and helpless, I found I could begin to face my emotions and cry, laugh, and maybe even start to heal.
When the group reassembled to share what we had written, I was able to connect with pieces of myself that had been scattered by pain, medication and difficult challenges over the course my cancer treatment.
I saw pieces of myself in other people's words. And, I began to gather myself together, somehow stronger.
By the meeting's end, I found myself drawing deeper breaths. Somehow, I felt more whole and able to cope. A weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Connecting with writings and people who had experienced many of the things I had plugged me back into myself.
I have had to cancel many things for cancer treatment these past couple of years, but you will not find me missing a Writing a Life meeting.
It's far too important to me.
Ginger Brodie is a retired social worker, mother and grandmother.
Contact Laura Kotler-Klein, Matt Stevenson or Sandy Blackburn at 215-662-6968 for information on Writing A Life.
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